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BBC Radio 4

A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.

BBC Inside Science

For 40 years scientists have been fascinated by the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Professor Jim Smith from the University of Portsmouth is one of those scientists, a frequent visitor over the past 20 years. He joins Inside Science to explain whether the region still suffers after the nuclear fallout and how how it has shaped European energy production.

It is a month for anniversaries, and with David Attenborough turning 100, each week we take a look at a species which has found itself named after the behavioural ecologist.

And finally, the latest science news in the world of astronomy brought to you by astronomer Dr Jeni Millard.

Forty years on from nuclear disaster

This week, humans once again looked down on the magnificent desolation of the lunar surface, from the orbit of the moon itself. They saw earth rise and earth set. They named the craters on the far side. They travelled further from Earth than any human has travelled before. Now, the Artemis mission returns home. Libby Jackson, Head of Space at the Science Museum, joins Inside Science to illuminate whether this lunar flyby is nothing but a test ride or significant for the future of human spaceflight and science. 
 
Nasa believes Artemis II will pave the way to not only land on the moon but establish a lunar base. Kelly Weinersmith, author of A City on Mars, joins Tom to discuss the complications that are likely to arrive when and if humans attempt to establish a semi-permanent presence on the lunar surface. Is it really possible?

Presenter: Tom Whipple 
Producer: Harrison Lewis and Katie Tomsett 
Editor: Martin Smith

Return to the moon

This week, we’re letting you run the airwaves. Victoria Gill puts your science questions to Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at University College London, and Penny Sarchet, Managing editor of New Scientist. 

If you’ve ever wondered why men have nipples, how gravity slingshots work, or whether photosynthesis could solve our energy problems, that’s all on this week’s BBC Inside Science.

Presenter: Victoria Gill 
Producers: Ella Hubber & Debbie Kilbride 
Editor: Martin Smith 
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Responding to your science questions

Humans are returning to the Moon - hear all about it on the BBC’s space podcast. 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II is following Nasa’s mission to loop around the Moon, with a new episode every day. Starts on Monday 30 March 2026. Search for 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Follow or subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.
Nasa plans to return to the Moon for the first time in more than half a century. Its Artemis II mission aims to send four astronauts to loop around the Moon. They are planning to go further from Earth than any human in history.
The story of Artemis II will be told by space scientist, Maggie Aderin and British astronaut, Tim Peake, with regular guest, US space journalist Kristin Fisher.
13 Minutes is the BBC’s space podcast, telling epic space stories, including the first Moon landing, Apollo 13 and the space shuttle. Theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.

Recommending: 13 Minutes Presents Artemis II

Are we, at last, getting the spacefaring future we were promised back in the 1960s? This week, NASA has been outlining ambitions for a base on the Moon and, perhaps more surprisingly, the development of a new class of spacecraft powered by nuclear electric propulsion. Dr Hannah Sargeant at the University of Leicester explains the potential of nuclear-powered space travel, how it could take us further into the solar system than ever before, and why it has taken decades for the technology to reach this point. 

Meanwhile, a lorry carrying a very unusual cargo has been making careful laps around the campus of CERN in Switzerland. This week science reporter Caroline Steel has been enthralled by the controlled transportation of antimatter. With insights from Dr Harry Cliff at the University of Cambridge, explore why trapping and moving antimatter is such a milestone for physicists.

Plus, rising beaver populations in the UK and the science of brain preservation. Caroline Steel joins Tom for her pick of the week’s science news. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple 

Producer: Harrison Lewis and Katie Tomsett 

Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth 

Editor: Martin Smith

The future of space travel

In a bid to invest in the future of computing and keep emerging quantum companies on their shores, the UK government has announced a £2 billion ‘Quantum Leap’ fund. Tom Whipple heads to ORCA Computing in London to find out exactly how close we are to realising that quantum future and the industries that may be revolutionized in the process.
 
After Iranian missiles have hit a key helium production plant in Qatar, stability of the global supplies of the element have been called into question. Dr Rebecca Ingle from University College London clues us in on just how much of the world relies on Helium and why it is the irreplicable “cryogenic king” of the elements.
 
Plus, can potatoes grow on the moon? And what can pythons tell us about weight loss? Reporter Gareth Mitchell joins Tom for their pick of this week's science news. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple 
Producer: Alex Mansfield and Katie Tomsett
Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Editor: Martin Smith

Is quantum computing having its moment?

This week new research suggests that in recent years the Earth has been warming faster than we predicted. But scientists are undecided on whether this change is going to be permanent. Laura Wilcox, Professor of Aerosol-Climate Interactions at the University of Reading explains. 

Tom Whipple is joined by Kit Yates, Author and Professor of Mathematical Biology and Public Engagement at the University of Bath. They mark the ten year anniversary of a game of ‘Go’ in which a computer programme called AlphaGo beat human Go champion Lee Sodol. Computer scientist at Google DeepMind Thore Graepel was witness to the game and talks about why the event has become a crucial moment in the story of AI. 

Kit also brings Tom his pick of the science news.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Clare Salisbury and Alex Mansfield
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Is the Earth warming faster than we expected?

This week Inside Science comes from Space Comm Expo in London, one of the biggest space conferences in the world. Tom Whipple explores the conference with Suzie Imber, Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester. 

Tom also speaks to Dr Everett Dolman, Professor of Space Strategy at John Hopkins University in the USA, about the role of space in modern warfare. 

Jodie Howlett, who oversees in-orbit manufacturing at the UK Space Agency talks about why the unique physics of space could be the perfect environment in which to manufacture the next generation of medicines. 

And Daniela Schmidt, Professor of Earth Sciences at Bristol University tells us why new research shows how we’ve drastically underestimated our measurements of sea level.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Kate White, Katie Tomsett, Alex Mansfield and Clare Salisbury
Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Editor: Martin Smith

How is war being fought in space?

Perhaps it’s the biggest question science has left to answer, how did life begin? Now, molecular biologists in Cambridge university have discovered tiny molecules of RNA which they say might provide some clues. Science journalist and author Philip Ball explains what we know and whether we’ll ever find the origins of life on earth.

Professor Michael Wooldridge has given this year’s Royal Society’s Michael Faraday Prize lecture. He speaks to Tom Whipple about why the AI we have is not what he wanted it to be; rational. And science columnist at the Financial Times Anj Ahuja brings her favourite new science to discuss.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Kate White, Katie Tomsett, Clare Salisbury and Alex Mansfield
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Does new science get us closer to finding out how life on earth began?

A small but mighty problem: what to do with the radioactive waste we have already made? Professor Clare Corkhill from the University of Bristol gives us the run down on how radioactive waste is created. 

In Onkalo Finland, Victoria Gill visits the first national facility able to provide a long term solution to nuclear waste by burying it deep underground, which is due to begin operations this year. 

But how can you stop future civiliations from digging it up again? Journalist Mark Piesing has written on the issue, and artist Gair Dunlop at the University of Dundee has for several years co-convened an international, interdisciplinary collaboration known as the Nuclear Culture Research Group looking at the best ways of deterring trespass over hundreds of millions of years hence.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton and Victoria Gill 
Producer: Alex Mansfield 
Editor: Martin Smith 
Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Forty years on from nuclear disaster

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